MARIETTA — While Cobb Sheriff Neil Warren is pleased that a federal court ruled that Georgia law enforcement authorities can check the immigration status of criminal suspects who fail to produce proper identification, it would likely not affect his department’s practices, he said.

“As a result of our current participation in the 287(g) (immigration enforcement) program, we anticipate the recent court decision will have minimal impact on our enforcement of the immigration statutes,” Warren said Wednesday.

Warren said he’s turned over about 10,000 inmates to ICE under the 287(g) program since 2007.

In 2011, the Georgia General Assembly passed House Bill 87, called the Illegal Immigration Reform and Enforcement Act. Two of the 23 sections in the law — sections seven and eight — were frozen by an injunction from U.S. District Court Thomas Thrash.

On Tuesday, Thrash lifted the injunction on Section 8 after the state successfully appealed in the U.S. 11th Circuit Court of Appeals.

“It was written carefully so as to stay within constitutional boundaries, and the recent court decisions confirm that,” Golick said.

Immigration activist D.A. King of the Dustin Inman Society said that while some jurisdictions will take advantage of the law and some will not, “the fact that state and local governments have the right to protect themselves from the crime of illegal immigration is clear.”

But Jerry Gonzalez, executive director of the Georgia Association of Latino Elected Officials, said no funding is allocated by the Georgia Legislature for training or enforcement.

“I don’t believe that that is a priority,” he said.

Gonzalez said because the immigration law is complex, law enforcement should not move forward without the proper training.

“We are encouraging community members to not respond at all for any immigration status questions from law enforcement, and we will be monitoring very closely how law enforcement officials implement this around the state,” Gonzalez said. “The Supreme Court has left open for potential litigation if there is racial profiling, and we’re going to be looking very closely, so that should be a warning sign to law enforcement officials across the state.”

But King said not every law passed in Georgia comes with increased funding.

While Cobb Police Sgt. Dana Pierce would only say the county police department is reviewing the ruling on House Bill 87, Marietta Police Chief Dan Flynn said Marietta officers will put their newfound ability into practice in a “very measured” way.

Flynn said he would wait for guidance from Attorney General Sam Olens, whom he expects will provide police officers with appropriate cautions to ensure they proceed in a judicious way. Beyond the Attorney General’s guidance, Flynn said he would work with the Georgia Association of Chiefs of Police and coordinate with the Georgia Sheriff’s Association.

“We, in law enforcement, appreciate our legislators giving us the tools we need to keep our communities safe, and we have no intention of being arbitrary or heavy-handed in their application,” Flynn said.

Flynn said he did not foresee fear among Marietta’s Latino community as a result of this law.

“Over the past six years, we have maintained a good dialogue with the Latino community through the Cobb Latino Initiative, immigration advocacy groups, and our highly successful Franklin Road Weed and Seed program,” Flynn said. “We even ran a poster campaign entitled ‘Help Us Help You’ to let immigrants in Marietta know that if they were the victim of or witness to a crime, we specifically would not even inquire about their immigration status. Moreover, we have not had any specific allegation of mistreatment of any immigrant by any Marietta officer. So while illegal immigrants may understandably have a general fear of the police, there is no reason to suspect they may fear the Marietta Police Department in particular.”

As to the issue of profiling, Flynn said Marietta police are strongly opposed to it, have policies prohibiting it and continually train officers in the proper mechanics of making stops and arrests.

“Using race, ethnicity, or gender as a reason is simply unacceptable. This is clearly laid out in our rules against profiling,” Flynn said.

Don't worry all...soon Georgia and Cobb, including wild west Warren who has little regard for the law or for law enforcement except when it is bullying college kids and the current whipping posts (immigrants), will catch up with the rest of the country where the vast majority are in favor of immigration reform which includes a path to citizenship for these good, hardworking people (not unlike our immigrant ancestors...how soon we forget). Remember, it took us a while here in GA and the south to catch up to the fact that Blacks are equal humans (and not property) and that the rule of law called Jim Crow is not American, and the same type of people who lead us here now are the ones who promoted those fallacies.

Numbersusa is a grassroot organization with 1.3 million members, who lobbies in Washington D.C. against illegal immigration and they will show what YOU can do to help. Be sure to sign up for their e-mails that will let you know when the latest bills dealing with illegal immigration are being introduced and how YOU can make a difference! Support Numbersusa!

And also know that this organization was started by an avowed white supremacist and is supported by the same. (And when I exposed that fact to through this and other media this organization removed his name from their website but not from their board...hmmm...something to hide?)

Watcher...

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December 13, 2012

As I read Chief Flynn's comments in this article, it appears that he wants Marietta to become

I vote we put MK and VFP into a room, lock the door and watch the incoherence and total lack of ability to communicate in English of one crash against the whining and sheer anger of the other (you guess which is which) and see how much energy could be created. Enough to make us independent of mid-east oil? We could put it on PPV.

Chief Flynn, I have an accident report from Marietta City police where an illegal hit our car and then fled the scene (on foot, left wife & baby in the car, the coward).

However, he was NOT charged with leaving the scene, just following too close and no license. Paid only $200 for misdemeanor, caused more in damage to my almost new car. Hispanic officer never charged him. Now, that is racial profiling.

Well there you go again talking about the "success" of Sheriff Warren handing 10,000 people over to ICE. How many of these people did ICE actually deport? 3? 4? 7? What is the deportation rate? What is the dollar amount we are paying per head?

Is it going too far for this crowd to use price per head as if they were cattle? Would it give D.A. King warm fuzzies inside if a cattle prod were used too? Do we all recognize the Marietta Police Department does in fact use cattle prods? The cattle prods have a brand name and an ad campaign that distracts from what they really and truly are, and they even come in pink "for the ladies."

Tazers are cattle prods and we're the cattle. Yes I use the word "we" to include Illegals. I'm human, you're human, and Illegals are human too despite what King / Warren might tell you.

Let's keep giving up our gold coins to King Warren's tax collectors so we can have our Knights of the Round Circle hand people over to ICE, and ICE can turn them loose since they are not felons.

Mr. King will argue some felonies are not a big deal, but by gosh, crossing a border without first doing a lot of paperwork with our inefficient and bloated government bureaucracy is a HUGE deal, right?

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